By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
BRACKETTVILLE – Four Texas sheriffs told journalists on Tuesday waves of illegal immigrants are creating unprecedented law enforcement challenges in their jurisdictions.
The sheriffs – two representing border counties and two representing counties in the state’s interior – spoke during a closed press conference in the Kinney County Convention Center. The press conference was organized by Kinney County Judge Tully Shahan to announce his signing of a disaster declaration due to claims that the county is being “invaded” by immigrants, human traffickers and drug smugglers.
Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland spoke about the law enforcement challenges in his county. Cleveland served in the Border Patrol for 26 years, the last 11 years as the patrol agent in charge of the Sanderson station.
“In Sanderson, in Terrell County, we’re at unprecedented levels. Historically, every year, we catch about 1,000 aliens. Until last year, (when) we were up to 5,500, which doesn’t sound like a lot, and it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what we see in the Rio Grande Valley, Del Rio and El Paso and other portions of the border,” Cleveland said.
The sheriff said there has also been an increase in the number of immigrants found dead in his county.
“Last year, we had a total of 12 deaths, which, again, for other portions of the border isn’t a lot, but for our county, it’s significant. This year – I retired from the Border Patrol on April 30 and I’ve been the sheriff for a month-and-a-half – we’ve had six deaths, and again, for us, that’s unprecedented,” Cleveland said.
“We lose the ability to respond to our citizens because we’re having to respond to Border Patrol agent calls. And again, having been a Border Patrol agent, we, the county, rely a whole heck of a lot more on the Border Patrol than they rely on us. We just get out and help them when we can, but it also takes away from our emergency medical centers,” he said.
Cleveland said he appreciated the help Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sent counties, including the increased presence of Texas Department of Public Safety troopers.
“I can tell you what the governor has done has been tremendous in Terrell County. The funding we’ve received for border security, the amount of DPS presence, whether the troopers, the Texas Rangers, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, have been of huge assistance and it’s something we welcome and would like for the governor to continue to support us with.
“That part of the border (in Terrell County), we have not just a lack of manpower, but of technology and infrastructure. We don’t need a wall on this portion of the border because we have a God-made barrier with the canyons of the Rio Grande, 1,000 to 2,000-foot cliffs, but we can use some additional resources such as manpower and technology,” Cleveland said.
“Lastly, I would like to say that it is a fixable problem . . . Up in the Beltway (Washington, D.C.), they don’t want to fix the problem. It could be solved quickly . . . It’s fixable, and what the governor’s done in Terrell County and in other counties has been tremendous, and we welcome more support and encourage more support,” Cleveland added.
Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe agreed the numbers of immigrants moving through his county are unprecedented.
“I started with the Border Patrol here in 1985, and I’ve never left. I’ve been here 37 years and I have never, ever seen what we’re seeing today,” Coe told the group of journalists.
“Our pursuits are ungodly. The amount of aliens my guys are catching is through the roof. All of last year, my troops – I have six full-time deputies and one school resource officer and 10 Stonegarden deputies, part-time deputies who can work up to 25 hours – caught 1,121 illegal aliens walking or being smuggled through our county,” he said.
“We thought we had hit the peak. We thought we had hit the big-time. So far this year, we’re over 1,600. Last year, my team caught 188 total smugglers. This year so far, 372. Our numbers are going to triple. We cannot sustain this type of invasion,” the sheriff added.
“We’ve got a game camera system set up called ‘Drawbridge,’ and every night, part of my job, before I go to bed, is I go through those pictures, and I count the number of people on those cameras that are walking through Kinney County. Last month, there were 4,350-odd. The month before that, 4,200. So far for the year, over 10,000 people have walked through Kinney County, uncontested. Nobody’s touched them. Nobody’s seen them. We’ve only seen them on camera,” Coe said.
Like the Terrell County sheriff, Coe said he is grateful for the aid sent by the governor and laid blame for the “invasion” at the feet of the Biden Administration.
“(Department of Homeland Security) Secretary (Alejandro) Mayorkas basically said this is due to climate change, basically saying he doesn’t want to do his job. The laws are there. They can enforce the laws if they so choose, but Border Patrol is being held back. They’re not being permitted to do their jobs as they were intended to do by regulation,” Coe said.
Coe also spoke about a recent situation in which his office took four immigrants to the Eagle Pass Port of Entry.
“We had a wreck a couple of days ago, up at Rocksprings. One individual was killed. We had four other individuals in the vehicle that weren’t hurt. They didn’t need any assistance. They declined all medical attention. I could not turn them over to any federal agency. Nobody would take them because we had to take them to the doctor first to be checked out.
“We don’t have the personnel to take them to the hospital and sit for four or five hours while they get examined. We don’t need to clog up the emergency room with people that aren’t injured. So I made a command decision. I took it upon myself to offer them a ride back to where they could get home safely and securely and if I have to, I’ll do it again.
“My job is to protect my county, my state and my country under the Constitution, and I will do that. My county comes first, followed by the state. We’re asking for more assistance. The governor’s doing what he can. I understand, but I think there’s more that can be done by the federal system, and the state system as well,” Coe said.
Journalists also heard from Burnet County Sheriff Calvin Boyd and Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd.
Calvin Boyd said not a day goes by that a Burnet County citizen asks him about the situation on the border.
“They’re frustrated and they feel helpless,” Calvin Boyd said.
Roy Boyd said, “You hear the term ‘invasion,’ and that’s exactly what this is. And you hear the term ‘immigration,’ and I’m going to tell you, that is not what this is. This is slave trading. We deal with this every day in our counties, these individuals who are being brought to us, coming through our counties, that we’re intercepting, they’re not free to go. They are the property of the cartels, who get them to Houston and move them around the country where they have to work off their indebtedness to the cartel one way or another.”
“They (the cartels) are importing a peon class, and we are allowing the cartels to do it,” he added.
Roy Boyd framed the situation as one of “good versus evil” and said he believed the country must “follow the commandments of God.”
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